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Old February 27th, 2017, 06:18 PM
dbora32 dbora32 is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: California
Posts: 4
Unhappy Help! Boyfriend with jealous dog and he doesn't believe in it... She is now biting.

Hi. My boyfriend and I have been together for 6 months. L-bombs have been dropped and the talk of a future together has seemed fairy tail-like... Just not to his other girlfriend of 8 years. His Weimaraner. I knew when I met her when I finally came back to his small 1 bedroom apartment for the first time that she was anxious and not very well trained. However, I had dogs before. I thought maybe I could at least help her remember some of the basic commands through some positive reinforcement training. Plus, I thought, what better way to bond with his furry child than to have her associate me with treats? Right? It was the least I could do after he came and stayed the night over at my house a couple of times to keep my cat company while I was out of state for work. (A keeper!)

She never liked us touching at all from the start. I thought this would subside over time as I pointed out to him that her never trimmed, eagle like talons hurt badly when she jumped up and broke blood vessels all over my chest upon entering the apartment or touching him in any way. She also apparently never at all learned the commands "down" or "stay".

Things started to get a bit worse when we started spending more time around each other. He must stop anything we are doing every 45 minutes to an hour to go home and take her out to pee. Needless to say, we have been to one theatre movie ever. She also started trying to get between us on the couch, if we kiss, in the bed, etc etc. He would pet her and say it was cute. I would warn that it seemed a little like jealous behavior toward me and decided to keep an eye on it. He at that time at least started taking measures so that we could be out more than 45 mins to an hour at a time after I made the point that she must be used to it when he is at work all day and then off to the gym by himself for hours.

She is a good sized almost 70lb Weimaraner and, as I said, he does not keep her claws trimmed. This has made co-habitating in the bed impossible. So I had to ask that she not sleep in the bed due to injury. This led to confusion for her because she was allowed when I wasn't there and not when I was. I am now "stealing her place". She started peeing in the house. He started saying it was because we were leaving her too long before potty breaks even if she did it right after being taken on a potty break. I told him that I believe she needs more consistency and it was seemingly making her anxiety worse.

I was now next to him, in her spot, watching movies on the couch. She would start with a few minutes of moping, then get up and stand in front of us staring (I swear without even blinking in true Weim form), and wait for him to scold me away. When this did not happen, and his universe was not yet again revolving around her, she would come up and push physically on him for attention. If I tried to give it to her (which I actually believe in ignoring until the behavior you want appears for rewards) I was nipped. "Haha! How cute! She played with you!" Then he would pet her and reinforce this unhealthy behavior. Now, if she feels like he is not looking at her enough, or if he even goes to the bathroom, she walks over and bites me. Not even a nip anymore if I don't pull away fast enough. She also has now peed on the floor twice from him turning his back on her while I tell her to sit... regardless of my relentless attempts at being the one to give her water or treats. I even have been trying to find activities that are dog friendly (we like hiking and I would love to picnic at a park where a ball can be thrown) sine she does not get anywhere near enough exercise for her breed.

I have tried to send him countless articles and still "She is a good dog!" even though she doesn't even sit anymore until he yells for the third time and has to stand over her. She bit me hard yesterday when I am sure she believed I hid him away from her in the bathroom. She did not break skin, but what if she did that to someone on a walk (she lunges and has no concept of heal). He just chalks it up to her being a Weim. I disagree. I truly believe it is inconsistent hierarchy. He told me to hit her if she bites. I don't believe that is the solution either if he will contradict training in the next moment... Not even 20 minutes after the bite, she is in his face at the couch for more attention, he knows about the bite, and he was trying to hide that he was petting her for being there under the blanket... Apologies if part of this is sounding like relationship woes rather than dog worry... but what if him basically telling her this is ok leads to her biting someone who is not tolerant and takes legal action???? He said he takes the training seriously, but expects me to administer all the reprimands while he quietly gives her what she demands.

She has the rule of the roost when he is not home (much of the day due to work) and has now for 3 years of conditioning to being this way before anyone even entered the apartment aside from the landlord when supervised. He actually told me to "Watch yourself and what you say about my family" yesterday when I had been tired of the biting and moved to a more serious note about her training. This really concerns me that he believes she should go on this aggressive path because she is fine with him and other people that don't actually touch him.

It has been 6 months and no real training is actually happening. Do I give up on it and risk that she gets put down for biting a neighborhood kid in the hall?? I don't know what to do about this.... Let alone what would have to be done to train her to be prepared to meet my cat. He talks about wanting a child at some point. I don't believe this dog could handle that. There are so many other situational examples of this that I am not going to keep listing due to the length already.

Please advise.
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